1 00:00:05,385 --> 00:00:12,748 Hello, my name is Erin McCluskey. I am an outreach worker for BDA Scotland. 2 00:00:12,748 --> 00:00:15,657 I’m very excited to be making this video with my amazing guest today. 3 00:00:15,657 --> 00:00:16,667 Could you introduce yourself please? 4 00:00:17,090 --> 00:00:19,446 Hi. My name is James Colhoun. 5 00:00:19,446 --> 00:00:23,446 In this video we’re going to cover an interesting topic. Under the BSL (Scotland) 6 00:00:23,446 --> 00:00:27,446 Act 2015, local councils across Scotland have certain obligations. 7 00:00:27,446 --> 00:00:29,666 One of the services councils provide is rubbish and recycling collections. 8 00:00:29,666 --> 00:00:33,126 In this video we want to focus on why it’s important to separate out your recycling. 9 00:00:33,126 --> 00:00:36,489 Before I get carried away, I should ask James to explain his role. 10 00:00:37,047 --> 00:00:42,197 Sure. I work at a recycling centre dealing with the glass. 11 00:00:42,631 --> 00:00:47,401 The glass is all processed and recycled and reused to make the special white paint 12 00:00:47,401 --> 00:00:52,311 used to paint lines on motorways. The glass makes the paint glow at night 13 00:00:52,311 --> 00:00:55,081 when it is lit up by headlights. It is also used to create a similar effect 14 00:00:55,081 --> 00:01:01,541 in the reflective strips on Hi-Vis jackets. These things are both made from recycled glass. 15 00:01:01,779 --> 00:01:06,195 They are really made from glass? That’s amazing! Can I ask James, 16 00:01:06,195 --> 00:01:10,686 why is it so important to separate out your recycling, your glass, your paper, 17 00:01:10,686 --> 00:01:15,877 your plastic and so on? Why do we have to put all these things into separate bins? 18 00:01:16,496 --> 00:01:27,836 It is really important, yes. I really want to emphasise that. It’s important to 19 00:01:27,836 --> 00:01:36,046 separate it all out. In Glasgow, the green bins are for general waste 20 00:01:36,046 --> 00:01:38,796 so anything that’s not suitable for recycling should go in those. 21 00:01:38,796 --> 00:01:45,506 The purple bin is for your bottles and jars, the brown bin is for food waste, 22 00:01:45,506 --> 00:01:56,446 the grey bin is for plastics, and the blue bin is for cardboard and paper. 23 00:01:56,446 --> 00:02:00,895 You can put shredded paper in there too. It’s really important to keep all this 24 00:02:00,895 --> 00:02:03,926 waste separate, and I will explain why. So, as I said before, I work on the glass. 25 00:02:03,926 --> 00:02:09,366 When the lorries come into the recycling centre, all the glass that they have collected 26 00:02:09,366 --> 00:02:16,216 up is put into a big hopper. It is my job to load it into the hopper, 27 00:02:16,216 --> 00:02:17,686 which is like a giant funnel. 28 00:02:17,686 --> 00:02:19,456 So the glass goes into the top of that? 29 00:02:19,456 --> 00:02:21,886 Yes, that’s right, into the top and then down into the hopper. Obviously, I can’t 30 00:02:21,886 --> 00:02:26,466 see inside it. If a piece of wood for example or some food waste or plastic 31 00:02:26,466 --> 00:02:33,816 gets mixed up with that, it makes a real mess and destroys the whole process. 32 00:02:33,816 --> 00:02:36,816 It can break the machinery and then that will need to be fixed. This means that the 33 00:02:36,816 --> 00:02:40,816 lorries returning to the recycling centre back up because they can’t unload. 34 00:02:40,816 --> 00:02:44,816 It’s the same thing with the plastic. If it gets mixed up with other types of waste, 35 00:02:44,816 --> 00:02:48,117 it causes all sorts of problems. Please, please don’t do that! 36 00:02:48,117 --> 00:02:52,029 There is no way for us to sort through it so if it does get mixed up, we just have to 37 00:02:52,029 --> 00:02:59,964 throw the whole lot away. It gets compressed and dumped into landfill! 38 00:02:59,964 --> 00:03:02,094 So that means it can’t be recycled? 39 00:03:02,094 --> 00:03:05,474 Unfortunately not, no. It has to be dumped because it’s contaminated. 40 00:03:05,474 --> 00:03:09,474 Lots of people don’t follow the system and just dump their waste into any bin, 41 00:03:09,474 --> 00:03:12,754 so it all gets mixed up. It’s no good though if it’s not done right. 42 00:03:12,754 --> 00:03:18,504 I see your point. Recycling needs to go into the correct bin and that’s really important, 43 00:03:18,504 --> 00:03:19,364 judging by what you say. 44 00:03:19,364 --> 00:03:22,164 It is, yes. If everything was separated out correctly, the process would run really 45 00:03:22,164 --> 00:03:25,334 smoothly, and everything would get recycled. Recycling helps the planet, 46 00:03:25,334 --> 00:03:27,564 it saves trees. We all need to look after the environment. 47 00:03:27,564 --> 00:03:29,754 If people just sorted their rubbish properly, the recycling process would 48 00:03:29,754 --> 00:03:32,014 run smoothly. If people ignore the instructions, we’re just going to end up 49 00:03:32,014 --> 00:03:33,084 repeating the same thing. 50 00:03:33,084 --> 00:03:37,084 Thank you for explaining why it’s so important, James. This is a great opportunity 51 00:03:37,084 --> 00:03:39,757 to remind everybody that each council has its own system for collecting recycling. 52 00:03:39,757 --> 00:03:42,264 The bins are not the same colour in every place. It’s best that you check your 53 00:03:42,264 --> 00:03:45,106 own council’s website to find out what the system is in your area. If you can’t find 54 00:03:45,106 --> 00:03:48,576 the information you need, you can contact the BSL Helpline, and they will make sure 55 00:03:48,576 --> 00:03:51,716 that you find the information you need to recycle effectively and do your bit to 56 00:03:51,716 --> 00:03:55,716 keep our environment clean. Thank you so much for your time today, James. 57 00:03:55,716 --> 00:03:56,506 No problem, thank you.